STOLEN F40 in Italy / 1996

89009:
Stolen in Magenta (MI) 21 May 1996.
Plates MI 5 T 2115 issued 28 March 1991.
6 March 1991 factory build start.
22 March 1991 completion date.
Engine #26272.
Gearbox #307.
Body #225.
Delivered new to Walter Bordese's Symbol Car S.p.A. in Torino.

Marcel Massini

 

More than thirty (30) F40's were stolen in the first 10 years (1987 to 1997) of the F40, mostly in Italy (large majority), France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the UK, but also in Kuweit. Many stolen Ferraris went via Marbella/Spain to Dubai and further on.
Quite a few ended up in Japan and in some Arab countries.

Marcel Massini

 

89009 factory theft notice dated 24 May 1996.

Marcel Massini

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How is it possible that they have not been located yet? An iconic limited edition model is not so easy to "hide" so many years

 

In some cases the owners/victims did not file an official theft report with the police............perhaps because authorities should not really know that they owned such a car? Or that it was originally purchased with black money? Or some cars were not really insured and not properly registered for road use or used a license plate from some other car.
In some cases chassis numbers and other numbers were overstamped/restamped and warranty cars and other paperwork faked.
Sometime ago I personally inspected a 288 GTO which not only had been restamped but also came with a totally fake warranty book. All made up. Including dealer stamps for the various services performed.
As I have said so many times before, please, guys, do your homework and especially do it BEFORE you sign contracts, wire money or bring a suitcase full of cash............

Imagine that people in Monrovia, Liberia, or Indonesia, don't really care about proper chassis numbers and paperwork.

Have fun!
Marcel Massini

 

In some cases that can happen, but in 35 F40 I doubt that this happens in all ...
How do the authorities of other countries allow to register a car (whatever the car is) without its original papers? They do not know how to differentiate a false document? I suppose that in those years anything could happen, but currently I do not think it is very difficult to locate the vast majority, many people around the world have a Ferrrari record, some have to appear ...

I have asked him about a unit, in private, but I have not received an answer

 

F40's are/were not a limited edition model.
1'315 units were built.
About as many as Daytonas or 328 GTB's.

Some stolen cars have been recovered later, some more than 20 years after a theft. Others have been totally dismantled and their parts sold, for some people this can be a lucrative business.

Marcel Massini

 

Well, "limited edition", that does not change the data, 30 stolen Ferrari F40 does not matter whether they are 300 or 1000 units, there is more to look for but I do not think it will be so difficult (in the case that they continue to circulate / registered) if they were scrapped and they were sold by pieces there is nothing to do obviously.

but it seems strange to me that they still follow some without locating themselves with all these "new technologies"

 

The very first F40 stolen was 80713 on 4 August 1989 (in Roquebrune, France). It was less than three months old.
The second stolen F40 was 80747 on 12 August 1989 (in Lugano, Switzerland). That one was just 26 days old at the time of theft.
Out of the first 30 stolen F40's twenty disappeared in Italy, four in France.
Surprisingly quite a number of F40s stolen in Italy were NOT insured. As was 86499 (see other thread).

Marcel Massini

 

This is an interesting topic that I have not given thought to previously.
Does anybody know or care to speculate which Ferrari model was the most frequently stolen either in terms of raw number or as a percentage of model units produced?
I would speculate the 360 (~16k?) or 430 (~20k?) would have the greatest number stolen simply because of the volume produced and the amount of time they have been on the road.
But would F40 with ~2.5% of production (?) stolen represent The most frequently stolen in terms of percentage produced?

 

308s and 328s.

Marcel Massini

 

Thank you

 

Is there any official record that it can be consulted to know the Ferrari that at some point have been stolen?

 

See post #6.

Marcel Massini

 

Yes, but that is a document from that specific unit. I mean access to a file where you can see all the ferrari that have been declared Stolen.

(sorry for my English)

 

You can continue to update your car with a temporary paper plate. Another option is to just attach metal dealer plates.


I have been on a fun run with another car that was not DOT/EPA legal. The car never had a VIN #. The owner simply attached a paper plate.

 

In the country where I live (Switzerland) you would go straight to jail for doing this. And not just for 24 hrs or so.

No such thing as a "paper plate" exists here.
The Swiss highway system is completely monitored by special cameras (I am not talking about the well known speed/radar cameras!) which photograph all license plates of every single car (even the ones behaving absolutely correct) and verify within milliseconds with the computer system. If a car is stolen, doesn't have front and rear plate, an unreadable plate, an altered plate or no plate at all, the police is automatically alerted and will find you within very few minutes. And all this is 24/7/365. Not joking.
Ever heard of George Orwell and "1984"?

Marcel Massini

 

There are people on this planet who keep and maintain large databases of automobiles, with as many details as possible.
As you can imagine such information is not easily available and can only be compiled over decades of searching and accumulating data.
In the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s (pre-computer times) the factory (sometimes) used to send technical letters, informations or faxes informing their dealer network about stolen cars. We talk about many hundreds of such papers. However, there usually was no further information when a car was later re-covered/found again.

One should also know that the factory did not always have knowledge about a stolen Ferrari (neither by the police authorities nor by the victim/car owner). Sometimes a theft was not directly or automatically communicated to the factory. A lot of such information was kept local or national only. In many cases local police did not even inform Interpol and other countries. That makes it virtually impossible to gather all of the information.
If your Prius gets stolen you do not necessarily inform Toyota HQ in Japan.

To the best of my knowledge there is no website about stolen Ferraris.
And forget google.

Marcel Massini

 

To those who would ask, 'how can this happen?', I would suggest this: in the Vintage section of Fchat they can find more than one thread detailing very long-running sagas of cars that were stolen and the frustrations faced by persons trying to assert rightful ownership.

Some high profile thefts in the art world are never recovered. Experts assert that some works now function as collateral in organized crime. So a $40MM painting now lives it's life in the shadows in the 'crime bank' vault so that mobsters can trade ownership of it in their ledgers. No longer a painting, it is now a financial instrument for the benefit of the crime underworld.
My point is not that that would happen with an F40. It's simply to say not all stolen cars are stolen to be used in their current form.
Inexpensive cars may be stolen to be broken up: their parts value is high and easier to move after the theft.

Anyhow, sordid business all around.
Here is hoping the OP gains new information and has luck in finding the F40!

 

But can you drive your $40MM painting?

Marcel Massini

 

You can no more drive your painting than you can tuck a Ferrari under your arm.
Lucky for us the mafia dons have a much easier time storing $40MM worth of paint on canvas than they would an F40 !!!